Automated assembly sensor cable

ABSTRACT

An automated assembly sensor cable has a generally wide and flat elongated body and a registration feature generally traversing the length of the body so as to identify the relative locations of conductors within the body. This cable configuration facilitates the automated attachment of the cable to an optical sensor circuit and corresponding connector. In various embodiments, the automated assembly sensor cable has a conductor set of insulated wires, a conductive inner jacket generally surrounding the conductor set, an outer jacket generally surrounding the inner jacket and a registration feature disposed along the surface of the outer jacket and a conductive drain line is embedded within the inner jacket. A strength member may be embedded within the inner jacket.

PRIORITY CLAIM TO RELATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/951,313, filed Jul. 25, 2013, titled Automated Assembly Sensor Cable, which claims priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/678,107, filed Aug. 1, 2012, titled Automated Assembly Sensor Cable, hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pulse oximetry is a widely accepted noninvasive procedure for measuring the oxygen saturation level of arterial blood, an indicator of a person's oxygen supply. A typical pulse oximetry system utilizes an optical sensor clipped onto a fingertip to measure the relative volume of oxygenated hemoglobin in pulsatile arterial blood flowing within the fingertip. Oxygen saturation (SpO₂), pulse rate and a plethysmograph waveform, which is a visualization of pulsatile blood flow over time, are displayed on a monitor accordingly.

Conventional pulse oximetry assumes that arterial blood is the only pulsatile blood flow in the measurement site. During patient motion, venous blood also moves, which causes errors in conventional pulse oximetry. Advanced pulse oximetry processes the venous blood signal so as to report true arterial oxygen saturation and pulse rate under conditions of patient movement. Advanced pulse oximetry also functions under conditions of low perfusion (small signal amplitude), intense ambient light (artificial or sunlight) and electrosurgical instrument interference, which are scenarios where conventional pulse oximetry tends to fail.

Advanced pulse oximetry is described in at least U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,770,028; 6,658,276; 6,157,850; 6,002,952; 5,769,785 and 5,758,644, which are assigned to Masimo Corporation (“Masimo”) of Irvine, Calif. and are incorporated by reference herein. Corresponding low noise optical sensors are disclosed in at least U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,985,764; 6,813,511; 6,792,300; 6,256,523; 6,088,607; 5,782,757 and 5,638,818, which are also assigned to Masimo and are also incorporated by reference herein. Advanced pulse oximetry systems including Masimo SET® low noise optical sensors and read through motion pulse oximetry monitors for measuring SpO₂, pulse rate (PR) and perfusion index (PI) are available from Masimo. Optical sensors include any of Masimo LNOP®, LNCS®, SofTouch™ and Blue™ adhesive or reusable sensors. Pulse oximetry monitors include any of Masimo Rad-8®, Rad-5®, Rad®-5v or SatShare® monitors.

Advanced blood parameter measurement systems are described in at least U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,083, filed Mar. 1, 2006, titled Multiple Wavelength Sensor Equalization; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,036, filed Mar. 1, 2006, titled Configurable Physiological Measurement System; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,034, filed Mar. 1, 2006, titled Physiological Parameter Confidence Measure and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/366,208, filed Mar. 1, 2006, titled Noninvasive Multi-Parameter Patient Monitor, all assigned to Cercacor Laboratories, Irvine, Calif. (Cercacor) and all incorporated by reference herein. Advanced blood parameter measurement systems include Masimo Rainbow® SET, which provides measurements in addition to SpO₂, such as total hemoglobin (SpHb™), oxygen content (SpOC™), methemoglobin (SpMet®), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®) and PVI®. Advanced blood parameter sensors include Masimo Rainbow® adhesive, ReSposable™ and reusable sensors. Advanced blood parameter monitors include Masimo Radical-7™, Rad-87™ and Rad-57™ monitors, all available from Masimo. Such advanced pulse oximeters, low noise sensors and advanced blood parameter systems have gained rapid acceptance in a wide variety of medical applications, including surgical wards, intensive care and neonatal units, general wards, home care, physical training, and virtually all types of monitoring scenarios.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1A-B illustrate a typical pulse oximetry sensor 100 having a body 110, a cable 120 and a connector 130. The body 110 is configured to wrap around a fingertip and incorporates an emitter 140 and detector 150 that provide physiological measurements responsive to a patient's blood oxygen saturation, as described above. The body 110 incorporates a cable assembly 101, an emitter assembly 102, a shielded detector assembly 103 and a tape layer assembly 104. The cable 120 provides electrical communication between the connector 130, the emitter 140 and the detector 150. The connector 130 electrically and mechanically connects the sensor 100 to a monitor (not shown). In particular, the cable 120 has a pair of emitter conductors 121 that solder to emitter 140 leads and a pair of detector conductors 122 that solder to detector 150 leads. This electrical/mechanical attachment of cable leads to emitter and detector leads does not lend itself to automation, as described with respect to FIGS. 2A-B, below.

FIGS. 2A-B illustrate a typical pulse oximetry sensor cable 200, such as the cable 120 (FIGS. 1A-B) described with respect to FIGS. 1A-B, above. In particular, a pair of emitter wires 220 and a shielded twisted pair of detector wires 230 is encased in an elongated cylindrical jacket 210. Disadvantageously, this cable arrangement does not readily lend itself to an automated assembly process. This is due, in part, to the lack of an external cable feature that identifies the location of internal emitter 220 and detector 230 wires. Advantageously, an automated assembly sensor cable supports an automated assembly of optical sensors, as described with respect to FIGS. 3-4.

One aspect of an automated assembly sensor cable is a generally wide and flat elongated body and a registration feature generally traversing the length of the body so as to identify the relative locations of conductors within the body for ease of automated attachment of optical sensor components and sensor connectors to opposite ends of the sensor cable. In various embodiments, the automated assembly sensor cable has a conductor set of insulated wires, a conductive inner jacket generally surrounding the conductor set, a conductive drain line embedded within the inner jacket, a strength member embedded within the inner jacket, an outer jacket generally surrounding the inner jacket and a registration feature disposed along the surface of the outer jacket.

In various other embodiments, the conductor set and conductive drain line are linearly arranged and regular spaced so as readily land on a corresponding series of flexible circuit (flex circuit) or printed circuit board (PCB) conductors. The registration feature is a machine-readable groove or, alternatively, a printed line running the length of the sensor cable. The outer jacket and inner jacket are semi-pressure co-extruded PVC. The outer jacket incorporates Kevlar fibers for strength and the strength member is a high-strength cord of Kevlar strands. The regular spacing of the conductor set and conductive drain line is 0.050 inches. The conductor set has a pair of emitter wires for transmitting drive currents to sensor LEDs and a pair of detector wires for receiving currents from sensor photodiodes. In other embodiments, the registration feature is any of various mechanical, electrical, magnetic, electro-mechanical, electro-magnetic or optical features incorporated within or on the sensor cable so as to aid in cable orientation and alignment to pads or other conductor terminations on any of various flexible circuits, printed circuit boards, ceramic substrates or other carriers, boards, circuits or substrates for any of various electrical, optical or mechanical components.

Another aspect of a sensor cable automated assembly cable is a generally wide and flat elongated cable having a plurality of linearly-aligned, regularly-spaced conductors. The cable is cut to a length compatible with an optical sensing application. At least one end of the cable is prepared so as to expose the conductors. A registration feature disposed along the length of the cable is detected so as to indicate the relative to the location of at least a particular one of the conductors within the cable. The exposed conductors are positioned relative to sensor circuit contacts according to the registration feature. The conductors are attached to the contacts so as to provide electrical communications between the conductors and a plurality of optical components.

In various embodiments, the cable is prepared by identifying an outer jacket and an inner jacket of the cable. Portions of the outer jacket and the inner jacket are cut from around the conductors. Insulation is removed from the conductor ends and the conductor ends are tinned. In an embodiment, the registration feature is detected by mechanically sensing a groove disposed along the length of the cable. Alternatively, the registration feature is detected by optically sensing a printed line disposed along the length of the cable. The exposed conductors are located relative to optical sensor flexible circuit pads according to the registration feature. In an embodiment, the conductors are located by aligning a detector pair of conductors and an emitter pair of conductors with corresponding pairs of the pads. These conductors are then soldered or otherwise electrically and mechanically attached to the pads. In an embodiment, the emitter conductor pair and the detector conductor pair have color-coded insulation so as to aid visual verification of the automated sensor cable assembly. In an embodiment, the emitter conductor pair are orange and red and the detector conductor pair are green and white.

A further aspect of an automated assembly sensor cable is a generally wide and flat elongated body. A conductor set means is disposed within the body for transmitting drive currents to sensor LEDs and for receiving currents from sensor photodiodes. A registration means indentifies the relative locations of the conductor set means so as to automate attachment of connectors and circuitry. An inner jacket means mechanically surrounds and electrically shields the conductor set. A conductive means is embedded within the inner jacket for draining electrical charge from the body. A strength means is embedded within the inner jacket for adding strength to the body. An outer jacket means encloses and protects the body by generally surrounding the inner jacket means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-B are assembled and exploded views, respectively, of a prior art pulse oximetry sensor;

FIGS. 2A-B are cross-section and side cutaway views, respectively, of a prior art pulse oximetry sensor cable;

FIGS. 3A-G are top, side, bottom, end, top perspective, bottom perspective and enlarged end views, respectively, of an automated assembly sensor cable embodiment;

FIGS. 4A-B are top perspective and enlarged end views, respectively, of another automated assembly sensor cable embodiment having an embedded strength member;

FIGS. 5A-C are top, top perspective and detailed top perspective views, respectively, of an automated assembly sensor cable soldered to a sensor flex circuit; and

FIG. 6 is a generalized sensor manufacturing flowchart incorporating an automated assembly sensor cable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 3A-G illustrate an automated assembly sensor cable 300 embodiment having a relatively flat and wide body 301 with linearly-arranged conductors sets 310, 320 and a machine-readable registration feature 360 so as to facilitate automatic location and attachment of specific conductors to specific connector pins or pads, as described with respect to FIGS. 4-6, below. In a particular embodiment, the sensor cable has a PVC semi-pressure extruded outer jacket 350 and a co-extruded conductive PVC inner jacket 340. The inner jacket 340 surrounds the conductor sets 310, 320 and an embedded drain line 330. The inner jacket 340 acts as a conductor shield, replacing conventional braided wire shielding. In an embodiment, Kevlar fibers are added to the outer jacket 350 for strength. In an embodiment, the registration feature 360 is a centralized groove formed in the surface of the outer layer during extrusion. In another embodiment, the registration feature is a printed line on the outer jacket 350 surface. In an embodiment, the conductors 310, 320 and the drain line 330 are linearly arranged and regularly spaced so as to facilitate automated assembly. In an embodiment, the conductor and drain line spacing is 0.050 inches. In an embodiment, the conductors 310, 320 are a copper core disposed within polypropylene insulation 312, 322.

FIGS. 4A-B illustrate another automated assembly sensor cable 400 embodiment having an embedded strength member 410 molded into the cable. Advantageously, the strength member transfers the considerable manufacturing-process cable loads off of the sensor cable conductors. In an embodiment, the strength member is a high-strength cord of Kevlar strands or the like.

FIGS. 5A-C illustrate a sensor circuit assembly 500 having an automated assembly sensor cable 400 soldered to a sensor flex circuit 700. The regular spacing of the cable conductors 310-330 along an axis across the sensor cable 400 advantageously allows the cable to easily land on a series of pads 710 on a flex circuit 700 or PCB. In an embodiment, the cable conductor insulation is color coded for ease of visual identification and placement verification. In an embodiment, one of the emitter conductors 310 is coded orange and the other is coded red, and one of the detector conductors 320 is coded white and the other is coded green.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sensor manufacturing method 600 utilizing an automated assembly sensor cable 300-400 (FIGS. 3-4). In an embodiment, sensor manufacturing starts with a roll of sensor cable or similar contiguous cable supply. A section of the sensor cable suitable for a particular use is measured and cut to length 610. The cable ends are prepared 620 by trimming predetermined lengths of the outer jacket 350 (FIG. 3G), the inner jacket 340 (FIG. 3G) and the various conductors 310-330 (FIG. 3G). Further, conductor insulation is stripped to length and conductors are pre-tinned accordingly. The registration feature 360 (FIG. 3F-G) is detected and the cable is positioned over flex circuit pads 710 (FIG. 5C) of a sensor flex circuit or PCB accordingly 630. The sensor circuit 700 (FIGS. 5A-C) is then soldered or otherwise mechanically and electrically attached to the sensor cable 400 (FIGS. 5A-C) leads 640. The opposite end of the sensor cable is similarly cut, trimmed and soldered so as to attach a sensor connector 650. The process is repeated for each sensor cable. In an embodiment, proper attachment of the sensor cable to the sensor circuit is visually verified 660 by the color coded emitter 312 and detector 322 (FIG. 5C) insulation.

An automated assembly sensor cable has been disclosed in detail in connection with various embodiments. These embodiments are disclosed by way of examples only and are not to limit the scope of the disclosure herein. One of ordinary skill in art will appreciate many variations and modifications. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A sensor cable automated assembly method of a cable including a generally flat and wide body, the sensor cable automated assembly method comprising: providing a cable comprising an emitter wire, a drain line, and a detector wire, wherein the drain line is arranged between the emitter wire and the detector wire; detecting a registration feature of the cable that is asymmetrical about a central axis of the cable, the registration feature being usable to identify a relative location of at least the emitter wire or the detector wire within the cable; and positioning the emitter wire relative to a plurality of contacts of an optical sensor circuit according to the registration feature.
 2. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 1, wherein the emitter wire, the drain line, and the detector wire are linearly arranged.
 3. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 2, wherein a spacing between the emitter wire and the drain line is the same as a spacing between the drain line and the detector wire.
 4. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 1, wherein a spacing between the emitter wire and the drain line is 0.050 inches.
 5. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 1, wherein said positioning the emitter wire comprises positioning the emitter wire in electrical contact with an emitter connector of the plurality of contacts according to the registration feature.
 6. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 1, wherein the registration feature comprises a printed indicator on the cable.
 7. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 6, wherein the printed indicator comprises a line.
 8. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 7, wherein the line extends along a length of the cable.
 9. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 1, wherein said detecting the registration feature comprises optically sensing the registration feature.
 10. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of contacts comprises a plurality of flexible circuit pads.
 11. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, further comprising transferring cable loads off of the emitter wire and the detector wire with a strength member embedded within the cable.
 12. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 11, wherein the strength member comprises a plurality of strands.
 13. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, further comprising: exposing a conductor of the emitter wire and a conductor of the detector wire at a first end of the cable; attaching the conductor of the emitter wire to an emitter connector of the plurality of contacts so that the conductor of the emitter wire is in electrical communication with the emitter connector; and attaching the conductor of the detector wire to an detector connector of the plurality of contacts so that the detector wire is in electrical communication with the detector connector.
 14. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 13, wherein said exposing the conductor of the emitter wire and the conductor of the detector wire comprises: cutting away a portion of an outer jacket and an inner jacket of the cable around the emitter wire and the detector wire at the first end of the cable; and removing insulation from ends of the emitter wire and the detector wire at the first end of the cable.
 15. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 14, further comprising tinning the conductor of the emitter wire and the conductor of the detector wire.
 16. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 13, wherein said attaching the conductor of the emitter wire comprises soldering the conductor of the emitter wire to the emitter connector, and said attaching the conductor of the detector wire comprises soldering the conductor of the detector wire to the detector connector.
 17. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 13, further comprising attaching the emitter wire, the drain line, and the detector wire at a second end of the cable to a sensor connector.
 18. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, wherein the emitter wire comprises a copper core disposed within polypropylene insulation.
 19. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, wherein the cable comprises a plurality of emitter wires including the emitter wire, and further comprising positioning the plurality of emitter wires relative to the plurality of contacts according to the registration feature.
 20. The sensor cable automated assembly method according to claim 9, wherein the registration feature comprises a printed indicator. 